Dragon Ball Super revealed that Bardock’s wish let his sons survive the destruction of their planet, which makes Raditz’s death even more tragic.

Fans of Dragon Ball know that Goku’s brother Raditz had the worst fate of all the Saiyans of the series: he was killed by his own brother and never got a chance at redemption. Many decades after Raditz’s first appearance in the manga, a controversial flashback centered around his father Bardock in Dragon Ball Super made Raditz’s tragic death even worse.

During the Granolah the Survivor Arc, fans witnessed a flashback involving Goku’s father Bardock fighting a young Gas on Planet Cereal to defend Granolah and Monaito. At one point, in chapter #83 of Dragon Ball Super Monaito uses his Dragon Balls to summon Toronbo the wish-granting dragon, and he asks Bardock what wish he should ask for.

Refusing to be sent home in the middle of a battle, Bardock simply asks “I’d wish that my sons end up thriving”. He then proceeds to beat Gas and return to Planet Vegeta, where he will meet his tragic end.

Bardock’s Wish Made Sure That Raditz Survived Planet Vegeta’s Destruction

This wish stirred a lot of controversy among fans for two reasons. First, some believe that Bardock’s wish is the reason why Goku ended up becoming a great hero, thus taking agency away from him. Second, it appears that the wish completely ignored Raditz, who did not thrive nor have a long life, and ended up being killed by his own brother Goku. However, this is a partial interpretation of Bardock’s wish that ignores some important details revealed later.

As Vegeta says in chapter #84, the effect of the wish was simply to make sure that both Goku and Raditz survived the destruction of Planet Vegeta at the hands of Freeza, thus giving them a chance to “thrive” in the future. Fans know that Goku escaped thanks to his parents putting him in a space pod and launching him toward a faraway planet – Earth. However, until now fans only knew that Raditz was “away on another mission”, and thus he escaped Vegeta’s destruction. So, Raditz simply got lucky, but It is now clear that the reason why this happened was the wish made by his father.

Raditz Was Denied The Chance To Become A Hero

However, this realization makes Raditz’s eventual death even more tragic. Raditz grew up to be an evil Saiyan only because he didn’t have the chance to learn from his father and mother, who were clearly good-natured. If Goku hadn’t killed Raditz on Earth he would have had the same chance to thrive, thanks to his father’s wish, and perhaps become a great hero after having a redemption similar to the one Vegeta had, but his early death denied him that chance. Thus, learning the truth about Bardock‘s controversial wish in Dragon Ball Super only makes the death of Raditz even more tragic.

Dragon Ball Super is available from Viz Media and Manga Plus.

Source: Screenrant.com